The Lensbaby Velvet 56mm f/1.6 is a fully-manual specialty lens designed for Sony E-mount cameras and camcorders. Key features include:
Produces soft images that are perfect for portraiture
Shallow depth of field and good low-light performance
1:2 maximum magnification for macro shooting
Fully manual aperture and focus settings
Classic Rendering. Through the use of a singlet-doublet-singlet lens design, the Velvet 56mm produces a soft, glowing effect at wide apertures with smooth tonality similar to a classic 20th-century portrait lens. That’s a fancy way of saying it produces soft images. This look is desirable for portraiture.
Full-Frame Coverage. The 56mm focal length is a great environmental portrait length for full-frame shooters. When used on a crop-frame body, you’ll get a more traditional portrait focal length of 89.6mm. The f/1.6 aperture enables shallow depth of field and low-light capability.
Multi-Purpose Lens. In addition to its portrait qualities, the Velvet 56mm also features 1:2 maximum magnification for macro shooting. It has a 5-inch minimum working distance with a long manual focus throw for minute adjustments.
Fully Manual. This lens provides no electronic communication with the camera. All aperture and focus adjustments must be made manually on the lens itself. The aperture you select won’t be displayed on the camera, and it won’t show up in the EXIF data.
